Fine Motor Skills Coffee Morning

It was great to see so many parents attending the coffee morning today. Ms Nicola and Ms Chloe explained about the stages of motor development from birth to 6 years of age.  Using her niece Holly as an example, Ms Nicola told us that children first develop the gross motor skills required to move arms and legs, and later develop the fine motor skills which mainly involve movement of the hands and fingers.  It is so important to develop these skills to enable the children to develop the ability to write, draw, paint, play musical instruments, etc.  Ms Chloe went on to point out the importance of children doing things for themselves, such as getting dressed and feeding themselves. Although allowing children to do these things may be very time consuming (and potentially quite messy), the more the children practise, the more developed their motor skills will be; in the long run this will be to the benefit of the child.

After the presentation, there was time for parents to handle some of the resources we use to help the children develop their fine motor skills.  One table had playdough, which is great for developing these skills.  We make the playdough ourselves at TX and Ms Chloe has shared a couple of recipes below if you would like to have a go at making your own. She has also shared a website that has more recipes and ideas:

http://www.pinterest.com/tkelley1848/playdough-recipes-and-ideas/